Time Attack 2024 Round 5 – Oulton Park
As we head into the second half of the season we find ourselves in a strong position in the championship standings after picking up some decent results along the way including first at brands Hatch last time out.
Leading up to Round 5 we performed our standard bolt checks and chased down the misfire which raised it’s head at the last round. We traced it to some suspect looking wiring on the coil packs. Some new wiring along with some fresh plugs would hopefully resolve the issue.
Warm Up
Besides checking the misfire had ben fixed the aim for the first session of the day was to learn the International circuit, a layout not use in Time Attack since 2013 and only once during a Direnza track day a couple of years ago in the pouring rain. During the session I managed 7 solid laps, learning a lot long the way. ending the warm up with a time of 1:53.295 – Over 4 seconds quicker than my lap time in 2023. It’s fair to say the car has progressed quite a bit over the past 11 years.
Practice
Building up the confidence is key, in the next 15 minute session I managed to clock another 7 laps and found another chunk of time setting a time of 1:50.856 which came very early on in the session. There was more speed in the car but a couple of costly mistakes on the following few laps including an off at Shell Oils didn’t help matters. Despite this, I still set a time quick enough for P2 in class. My Garmin Catalyst suggested our optimal lap time would be good enough to challenge for first. A quick check over the car after the session ensured nothing was broken following the earlier off.Â
Qualifying
Qualifying was again marks the start of when points are awarded and it was time to hunt down the optimal laptime. This session wa salso a little longer at 20 minutes giving us an extra 2-3 laps. The first banker lap was a 1:51.036. Slightly down on the warm up time but nothing to be too concerned about with still plenty of time left in the session. After a few cool down laps I went for it again, nailing the first sector, the best of the day so far. Unfortunately I missed the braking point at Knickerbrook, over shooting the corner and sending me onto the grass a speed. After retuning to the pits it was clear something had moved on the geometry, so the call was made to end the session early to investigate.
In the garage the car was inspected and we discovered the bottom arm mounting point to the subframe had broken on the welds. Not a great situation to be in at the circuit. With no welders on site we opted to fabricate a makeshift bracket to brace the mount. Allowing the car to run in the final in an attempt to score some valuable championship points.
Final
We got the car ready with just 10 minutes to spare before the final. It was now time to hop and hope it held. While sat in the holding area there was yet another twist, rain. Out on track it took a good number of laps to re-build my confidence both in the repair and circuits grip levels. Allowing myself to push without over stepping the limit. With the compromised performance we managed to wrestle a 1:53.967 lap out of the car. Although over 3 seconds down on earlier time it was better than not running at all and as a result was good enough for 4th in class salvaging some important championship points.Â
With Round 5 over, it’s time to repair the subframe before the next round at Donington in August and make some improvements to prevent it happening again. Aside from this the car should be good to go. We have also entered the Quick60 event the weekend before. It will be great to get some track time post repairs to help build my confidence in the car.
